Top factors that will influence your MVP’s success
The days when startups have long been secretly tinkering with a business idea and building the perfect product are over. Instead of entering the market after a long product development cycle, startups and innovative companies are already carrying out a very early market entry with a so-called Minimum Viable Product – MVP for short – so that the right needs of customers can be addressed right from the start. MVP development for startups is a must nowadays!
If you want to build and use an MVP, you are basically on the right track. However, many founders repeatedly make a big mistake: they concentrate too much on technical implementation with their team and their resources and lose sight of other important factors or even forget them – and then wonder why their MVP is not accepted on the market. The result:
- Wrong conclusions are drawn.
- The MVP project is considered to have failed.
- Innovative products or product features do not come onto the market.
In order for a product or a single feature to be accepted by customers and used regularly, it is not enough to guarantee only the technical implementation. A few other factors must be taken into account at different levels.
What factors do startups have to consider when developing their MVPs?
Minimum Viable products are often implemented in practice in cross-section: the founders and their startup teams, therefore, focus primarily on the functionality of their MVP. As soon as something works functionally – and in most cases, this means the technical function – the product or business idea is tested on the market.
Accordingly, a technical feature is being developed that is not quite as perfect as it should be, but at least the prototype has already taken on concrete (minimal) forms. And that’s enough to get relevant feedback from the target group, isn’t it?!
The answer is negative. That’s not enough. Because when the MVP is ready, the fun really begins. Before valuable feedback can be generated, the MVP must first be efficiently pushed into the market and onto the radar of the target group – and this does not work without the right packaging.
To hope that interested customers simply believe in a value proposition would be presumptuous. To expect people unconditionally believe that a promise of values really exists just because it is said, “When the time comes in the future, it will work!” is wrong.
Is the target group generally rather suspicious or good-natured? We don’t know that. But it doesn’t matter either. One thing is certain: if you want real and reliable market feedback on your idea and product, you must ensure that an MVP can be tested as an overall experience.
This means that despite the “minimum,” an MVP must be built, which on the one hand, is functional, but on the other hand, also reliable and usable and also conveys emotions somewhere. And precisely in such a way that the customer gains confidence that the value proposition for which he or she pays is also effectively delivered.
So if we want to build a perfect MVP to be able to test important core functions on the market under real conditions, we must find a good mix of all aspects that make up a good product. Startups should accordingly consider the following four aspects when developing their MVPs.
Functionality
To ensure the functionality of a process, the users’ needs must be known. These are initially expressed in actions that the user wants to carry out with the help of a digital product. Only when the intention behind it is clear the core function will be translated into a meaningful digital process. If we think of an online shop, we typically need to buy the goods offered. The promotion is the purchase of goods. Thus, the core function is, therefore, the check-out process. Technically, it is clear what needs to be done. However, this definition alone will not lead to a good result.
Diverse technological solutions can be used for MVP development. There are many companies using Node js that were first startups, so Node is a nice choice.
Trustworthiness & reliability
Creating trust and giving users a good feeling is also necessary. Users want security – e.g., they expect the shop to leave a strong impression and the purchase to function smoothly – and they, therefore, need additional information about delivery times, return conditions, payment methods, suppliers, etc., which are integrated into the process. Maybe reviews from other buyers, quality seals, or possible contact with the seller will give a good feeling during the process.
Usability
An MVP must be “intuitively usable,” i.e., above all, “simple.” The prerequisite for this is that the user’s abilities and mental models are known and considered. Let’s think again about the check-out process: if everything seems too complicated or insufficiently understandable to the shoppers, they feel unsettled. The result: the transaction is highly likely to be canceled. Thus, the test with the MVP would actually show us that people have no interest in shopping online. But is that really true? Hardly!
Emotional design
The question of when and how enthusiasm can be triggered in a customer can (unfortunately!) not be answered across the board. If it is a shop, the shoppers can only be inspired by timely delivery, discount promotions, or a simple return process. User research is necessary to transform general assumptions into a real, profound understanding.
Hopefully, now you better understand how to make your MVP successful. If you need help with it, consider contacting professionals: they will ensure top results.